Centennial baseball sweeps Farmington to advance to state quarterfinals
LAS CRUCES ― It's been four years since the Centennial baseball team has made it past the first round in the state tournament.
That streak broke on Saturday.
The No. 6 Hawks swept No. 11 Farmington in two games, 12-4 and 6-2, at the Field of Dreams Baseball Complex on Friday and Saturday to advance to the second round of the state playoffs.
“It's good to get in (the second round),” said Centennial head coach Rusty Evans. “Now it's a one-game playoff every single game. We'll have to be our best on Thursday, but we'll be ready.”
Centennial will play No. 3 Carlsbad in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 10 a.m., at the Jennifer Riordan Spark Kindness Sports Complex in Albuquerque.
Like many games during the regular season, Centennial dominated from start to finish, out scoring Farmington 18-6 over the two games. The Hawks will look to ride that momentum through the rest of the playoffs.
With 14 seniors on the squad, this Hawks team knows how important this season is.
More:LSU signee and MLB draft prospect Steven Milam leads Centennial into playoffs
“(We need to) keep it rolling, keep the momentum going,” senior Steven Milam said. “Just little things we got to fix, but we'll bring it back up and we'll be rolling.”
Centennial lost in three games last year to Cleveland, losing a winnable second game that would have swept the Storm, but eventually lost in extra innings. Evans knows how much they hurt, but also learned from that game and seeing his team advance seems almost like a necessity.
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“Getting through the first round was a big hurdle for us,” Evans said. “We crossed that hurdle and now we'll advance to hurdle number two.”
Centennial split two games with Carlsbad at the beginning of the season.
Milam said that base running, hitting and self-improvement is something that Centennial needs to touch up on if they want a state title.
“It's really exciting (being in the second round),” Milam said. “It's my first time being in the next round. It's what we wanted and what we've been working for all year, and we're not done.”
Saturday's playoff results
Baseball
Class 5A
No. 9 Rio Grande 7, No. 8 Las Cruces 4
No. 9 Rio Grande 6, No. 8 Las Cruces 5
Rio Grande swept a Saturday doubleheader to advance to the state quarterfinals against top-seeded Rio Rancho next weekend in Albuquerque.
The Bulldawgs finished the season 19-9.
No. 4 Volcano Vista 4, No. 13 Organ Mountain 3
Volcano Vista swept the Knights to advance to the Class 5A quarterfinals next weekend in Albuquerque.
No. 2 La Cueva 6, No. 15 Mayfield 0
La Cueva swept the first round series against the Trojans, beating Mayfield 13-3 in Game 1 on Friday.
La Cueva advanced to play No. 7 Sandia in the quarterfinals.
Class 4A
No. 7 Santa Teresa 9, No. 10 Hope Christian 8
Santa Teresa swept the first-round series against Hope Christian and will advance to the Class 4A quarterfinals.
Santa Teresa will play No. 2 St. Pius on Thursday at 7 p.m., at the Jennifer Riordan Spark Kindness Sports Complex in Albuquerque.
Softball
No. 7 Cibola 9, No. 10 Organ Mountain 7
Cibola advanced the double elimination round and Organ Mountain's season ended with a 17-10 record.
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